Reduce, reuse, recycle. It’s a familiar lesson, but maybe one that hasn’t quite sunk in for everyone. The Delaware Solid Waste Authority says, to be fair, it’s a little more complicated than that.
“Well, you know, a lot of times people, they might read something on the internet about recycling, and it may just not not apply to us.” Sarah Culler said, the senior manager of education and outreach for the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, which has managed solid waste in Delaware since 1975.
“Over time… There was a time when we were separating our material into different categories, you know, you had a bag for plastic, a bag for paper, you know, that’s long gone.”
For the average Delawarean, recycling may now be as simple as putting recyclable items into the recycling bin and bringing it to the end of the driveway. And while the switch to single stream in Delaware in December 2010 encouraged consumers to recycle more, it isn’t without its own set of complications once your recyclables are collected.
“Sorting. So, a lot. I would probably say up to twelve hours a day. They have various shifts in the materials recovery facility where all the actual sorting is happening, so it’s an all-day process. And they do take time in the evenings a lot too, you know, maintenance, and whatever else might be needed on machinery,” Culler said.
That’s right, what goes into your recycling bin still needs to be sorted — and during that process a fair amount doesn’t actually get recycled for one reason or another. According to an annual report from the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, 475,000 tons of recyclables were diverted in 2022 alone.
But this is still only 37% of the total amount processed. The remaining 800,000 tons heads to landfills. And while the amount of yearly diverted recyclables have been mostly consistent, there is still room for improvement — by reducing the number of contaminants in the sorting process.
“We spend a lot of time talking to people about, you know, not bagging the recycling, not putting any plastic bags into their bins because once they get to that sorting facility, they can wreak havoc, they can jam machines, and then that causes shutdowns and, you know, delays the sorting of things.”
Culler says getting people to understand that and dispelling other recycling misconceptions is a major goal for the DSWA.
“We focus a lot on educating children. We’ve got a landfill activity, we’ve got recycling activities so they can better understand how waste is taken care of in our state. Our kind of philosophy is that it starts with the kids. They take it home and they, I can speak from experience, pressure their parents into, you know, learning how to recycle right… and do what’s best for them, and just trying to make sure everyone is on the same page about what can and cannot be recycled,” Culler said.
But young children aren’t the only ones being educated. According to the University of Delaware’s director of sustainability Jeffrey Summerhays, UD has also been integrating new outreach and sustainability efforts.
“We just started a new program this last football season called ‘Draft Cups,' where it’s basically refillable cups.”
This, along with the university’s reusable to-go containers in the dining halls, allow students to be more mindful of their recycling habits, and be their own advocates for a more eco-friendly campus.
"We have over 60,000 gallons of water saved. We have tens of thousands of carbon dioxide equivalents that we haven’t produced... because of the use of single-use plastics."Jeffrey Summerhays, Director of Sustainability for the University of Delaware.
“But the nice thing about it is we know exactly how much water we’re not using to wash dishes or to make disposable plastic. We have, you know, over 60,000 gallons of water saved. We have tens of thousands of carbon dioxide equivalents that we haven’t produced or basically caused to be produced because of the use of single-use plastics,” Summerhays said.
While those efforts make a difference, do they translate into recycling-savvy students? Especially when it comes to items they use on a regular basis, like coffee cups and pizza boxes? I decided to hit the streets around campus to find out by quizzing some UD students about their recycling knowledge. The students I talked to seemed somewhat unsure about what is and isn’t recyclable around campus, the DSWA’s Sarah Culler is confident they can change that.
“We just want people to seek our information, and to know what we’re doing here in the first state, so that… you’re not just thinking that we’re doing this for nothing because it is important, and so that we can do our best to have a clean, beautiful Delaware going forward…”